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Katharine (white shark)

Katharine the white shark loves Florida's coast. She easily is OCEARCH's most popular shark.(Photo: OCEARCH)

Everyone's favorite white shark — and easily Florida's most frequent visitor — is Katharine. When she was tagged more than five years ago near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Katharine weighed 2,300 pounds and was 14 feet long, 2 inches long.

The white shark was named in honor of Katharine Lee Bates, a Cape Cod native and songwriter, best known for her poem and song "America The Beautiful," which has been called "an expression of patriotism at its finest."

Katharine, tagged Aug. 20, 2013, has been visiting Florida since 2014. However, over the past few months, she's been swimming between North Carolina and South Florida, primarily in the Atlantic shared foraging area, which includes the Treasure and Space coasts.

CLOSE

TCPalm joined OCEARCH Jan. 22, 2018, looking for great white sharks about a mile off Ponce Inlet.

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The light blue hydraulic tower (right) lifts the slatted-wood platform (center) up and over the starboard side of the ship (left) and into knee-deep water. After crewman Brett McBride maneuvers caught sharks onto the platform, the crew raises it and the scientists jump on, conducting about 15 tests in 15 minutes. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

With the platform at sea level, the crew puts a wet towel over the shark's head, to calm it and keep its eyes moist, and a hose in its mouth, to flush water over the gills. The sharks go into a docile state called "learned helplessness" until they're allowed to glide off and back into the ocean. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

Scientists hang out in the galley much of the day. Clockwise, they are: Bob Hueter (foreground) of Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota; Linda Planthof of the European Space Agency in Amsterdam; Lisa Hoopes of the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta; Samantha Ehnert of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville; and Peter de Maagt of the European Space Agency. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

Dutch scientist Irene Kingma wants to attach this state-of-the-art device to a white shark fin. Developed by European Space Agency engineer Peter de Maagt, who also was on the expedition, it can detect when a satellite is passing over a shark and upload real-time data to it. Scientists are thrilled with the $500 cost, as current models that have to fall off the shark and be retrieved to download the data cost $5,000. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

The Louisville distiller, which currently has four barrels on the M/V OCEARCH, says whiskey ages faster on a rolling ship because more of the liquid sloshes onto the wood more often. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

The Louisville distiller, which currently has four barrels on the M/V OCEARCH, says whiskey ages faster on a rolling ship because more of the liquid sloshes onto the wood more often. CHERYL SMITH/TCPALM

Savannah (white shark)

Savannah might not be a large shark at 460 pounds and 8 feet, 6 inches but she's done a reasonable amount of vacationing in the Gulf of Mexico.

On Jan. 9, 2018, Savannah was about 25 miles off the coast of Fort Pierce. She made it to St. Lucie County waters after her tracking device pinged Jan. 1 near Cape Canaveral National Seashore. It was her first time exploring Central Florida waters since she was tagged March 5 in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Hilton, a white shark, also loves Florida but he really enjoys the George coastline.(Photo: OCEARCH)

Nova (white shark)

Nova's a newbie.

Nova, an 11-foot, 6-inch male shark that weighs more than 1,100 pounds, was the first white shark tagged in Canadian waters. Tagged Sept. 24, 2018, near Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Nova pinged in late November off the coast of Daytona.

In early December, Nova made it the Keys and on Dec. 23, he was way offshore in the Gulf, west of Naples.

Nova surfaced Feb. 3 offshore of Key West, so he could be making his was back toward Florida's east coast.

Miss Costa, a white shark tagged by OCEARCH, also loves Florida coast but enjoys more the Carolina coastline.(Photo: OCEARCH)

Maureen Kenyon is TCPalm's trends reporter, keeping Treasure Coast residents updated on hot topics and happenings. Do you have a story to tell? Want to start a conversation? Send an email to maureen.kenyon@tcpalm.com, call 772-221-4249 or follow her on Twitter @_MaureenKenyon_.